Two of Marvel’s four mainstream releases in 2024 – be they from the Marvel Cinematic Universe or otherwise – were R-rated, but they were still incredibly different from each other. Marvel’s 2024 movies were interesting in that they marked a rare slow year for the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Unlike the Marvel movies of 2025, those being Captain America: Brave New World, Thunderbolts*, and The Fantastic Four: First Steps, 2024 had only one MCU release, with the other three theatrical movies coming from Sony’s Spider-Man Universe.

Interestingly, two of the movies that were released in 2024 were vital to upcoming Marvel movies for one big reason. Both of the movies in question were R-rated, which is admittedly rarer for Marvel than a more mature comic book franchise like DC. Despite their similarities in rating, however, both of the Marvel movies were vastly different, highlighting the range the franchise has. Even now, in 2025, I am surprised at how different both projects were and also how important they were, regardless of their similar age rating.

2024’s 2 R-Rated Marvel Movies Were Both Major Releases

Both Movies Had The Potential To Usher In A New Age

The four Marvel movies of 2024 were Madame Web, ᴅᴇᴀᴅpool & Wolverine, Venom: The Last Dance, and Kraven the Hunter. Of these four, ᴅᴇᴀᴅpool & Wolverine and Kraven the Hunter were R-rated, which is somewhat surprising given how important they were to their respective franchises. Kraven the Hunter, for example, was the last confirmed movie in Sony’s Spider-Man Universe. Therefore, Kraven the Hunter was vital to the franchise as a whole; if it succeeded and was critically and commercially successful, Sony’s Spider-Man Universe likely would not have ended the way it did.

Then there was ᴅᴇᴀᴅpool & Wolverine, which played a crucial role in properly introducing the concept of the multiverse to the MCU. Spider-Man: No Way Home and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness did this too, but ᴅᴇᴀᴅpool & Wolverine tied everything to Loki‘s concept of the TVA, all while blending Fox’s X-Men movie timeline with that of the MCU. As a result, both movies were major releases for the MCU and the SSU.

Kraven The Hunter And ᴅᴇᴀᴅpool & Wolverine Couldn’t Be Any More Different On Many Levels

Despite their shared cruciality to their franchises and their R-ratings, ᴅᴇᴀᴅpool & Wolverine and Kraven the Hunter could not have been more different. The latter was very self-serious, with minimal humor and a more intense story for its main character, as opposed to ᴅᴇᴀᴅpool & Wolverine‘s more comedic tone. Also, while ᴅᴇᴀᴅpool & Wolverine had violence, Kraven the Hunter‘s R-rating was awarded almost entirely because of its violence and gore, whereas the former included more profanity and non-family-friendly jokes. Storywise, ᴅᴇᴀᴅpool & Wolverine was a mᴀssive-scale multiverse movie, yet Kraven the Hunter was a smaller-scale origin story.

Even beyond how the films are as stories, ᴅᴇᴀᴅpool & Wolverine and Kraven the Hunter are very different. The latter was not well received, earning only a 15% critical approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, as opposed to ᴅᴇᴀᴅpool & Wolverine‘s 78%. The MCU film also earned over $1 billion at the box office, the first in the franchise to do so since Spider-Man: No Way Home in 2021. In contrast, Kraven the Hunter was a box office flop, earning only $62 million worldwide. Evidently, both movies were different in a myriad of ways.

Kraven The Hunter And ᴅᴇᴀᴅpool & Wolverine Combine To Make Marvel’s R-Rated Movie Future Look Way More Interesting

The Future Of R-Rated Marvel Movies Is Uncertain

Going back to Kraven the Hunter and ᴅᴇᴀᴅpool & Wolverine being important to Marvel, another reason was the ability to gauge whether R-rated Marvel movies could succeed in the future. Most interestingly, though, the movies had drastically different receptions both critically and commercially, meaning this was not answered. If both had flopped and been poorly received, R-rated Marvel movies would likely be a thing of the past. Similarly, if Kraven the Hunter had matched ᴅᴇᴀᴅpool & Wolverine‘s success, more R-rated Marvel movies would likely be considered.

However, given that one of these movies failed and one of them succeeded, the concept of future R-rated Marvel movies is more complex. Now, it is not guaranteed that an R-rating will garner success, as Kraven the Hunter made clear. That being said, the potential of the rating was very much on display thanks to ᴅᴇᴀᴅpool & Wolverine. With this in mind, it is likely that R-rated MCU movies will only be made if there is good reason to do so in the future, be it for a more violent character like Blade or a more typical profane comedic character like ᴅᴇᴀᴅpool.